The devil's secret
God said to Moses once: "Go out and find
The secret truth that haunts the devil's mind."
When Moses met the devil that same day
He asked for his advice and heard him say:
"Remember this, repeat it constantly,
Don't speak of 'me', or you will be like me."
If life still holds you by a single hair,
The end of all your toil will be despair;
No matter how you prosper, there will rise
Before your face a hundred smirking "I"s.
A saint once said: "The novice ought to see
A door that opens on obscurity -
Then seas of love will inundate his mind,
And he will leave our earthly life behind;
If he sees anything but darkness there,
He is deceived and worships empty air."
Though others see them, you have not the art
To recognize the passions in your heart.
There is a den in you where dragons thrive;
Your folly keeps the prowling beasts alive -
By day and night you watch them sleep and eat
And cosset them, and toss them blood-soaked meat.
From dust and blood your earthly being grew -
Is it not strange that both should be taboo?
That blood, which flows within your every vein,
Is an impurity, an unclean stain?
What you most love defiles, and deep within
The chambers of your heart hide guilt and sin;
If you have seen this filth, why do you sit
Smiling as if you'd never heard of it?
-Shaykh Fariduddin 'Attar, The Conference of The Birds (Mantiq at-Tair)
Abu Yazid and his disciple
There was a certain ascetic who was one of the great saints of Bestam. He had his own followers and admirers, and at the same time he was never absent from the circle of Abu Yazid. He listened to all his discourses, and sat with his companions.
One day he remarked to Abu Yazid, "Master, today is thirty years that I have been keeping constant fast. By night too I pray, so that I never sleep at all. Yet I discover no trace in myself of this knowledge of which you speak. For all that I believe in this knowledge, and I love this preaching."
"If for three hundred years," said Abu Yazid, "you fast by day and pray by night, you will never realise one atom of this discourse."
"Why?" asked the disciple.
"Because you are veiled by your own self," Abu Yazid replied.
"What is the remedy for this?" the man asked.
"You will never accept it," answered Abu Yazid.
"I will so," said the man. "Tell me, so that I may do as you prescribe."
"Very well," said Abu Yazid. "This very hour go and shave your beard and hair. Take off these clothes you are wearing, and tie a loincloth of goat's wool about your waist. Hang a bag of nuts round your neck, then go to the marketplace. Collect all the children you can, and tell them, 'I will give a nut to everyone who slaps me.' Go round all the city in the same way; especially go everywhere people know you. That is your cure."
"Glory be to God! There is no god but God," cried the disciple on hearing these words.
"If an infidel uttered that formula, he would become a believer," remarked Abu Yazid. "By uttering the same formula you have become a polytheist."
"How so?" demanded the disciple.
"Because you counted yourself too grand to be able to do as I have said," replied Abu Yazid. "So you have become a polytheist. You used this formula to express your own importance, not to glorify God."
"This I cannot do," the man protested. "Give me other directions."
"The remedy is what I have said," Abu Yazid declared.
"I cannot do it," the man repeated.
"Did I not say that you would not do it, that you would never obey me?" said Abu Yazid.
-Shaykh Fariduddin 'Attar, Memorial of the Saints (Tadhkirat al-Awliya')

As for him who fears to stand before his Lord and restrains the ego its desires, the Garden is shelter.(The Snatchers:40)

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "The Fire is surrounded by all kinds of desires and passions, while Paradise is surrounded by all kinds of disliked, undesirable things."(Bukhari)

Whoever does good at night is rewarded during the day and whoever does good during the day is rewarded at night. Whoever is sincere in abandoning a desire is saved from catering to it. God is too noble to punish a heart that has abandoned a desire for His sake.(Abu Sulayman ad-Darani)

Beware of your ego, and trust not its mischief; The ego is worse than seventy devils. (Arabic Poem)

I seek God's forgiveness, and do not claim that my intention in producing this Blog is confined to good religious purposes; how may I do so when I am aware of the hidden desires,
egotistic passions, and worldly wishes that I harbour?
I do not claim innocence for myself; the ego is indeed an inciter to evil, save when my Lord shows mercy; my Lord is indeed Forgiving, Merciful.
O God! I seek Your protection against my committing idolatry [shirk] knowingly, and Your forgiveness for that of which I am not aware!
I ask God to make me and all other believers benefit from this Blog and to render my production of it purely for the sake of His Noble Countenance.